Hello to all! I've recently come to own a 1975 American Mariner 7.5 that is in dire need of a complete overhaul. Before I picked her up, I spent hours on here reading all of the different pitfalls that I was sure to fall in to through this process. I've been a sunfish class sailor on inland waters for as long as I can remember and I've been hoping to get into a bigger boat for some time now. This seems to be the opportunity I've been looking for.
The course currently looks something like this: Being from central MA, the first step is to get the boat inside a warm workshop. Once that's taken care of, I need to undue the damage from 3' of water that was below deck by gutting it out and going to town with cleaners. I'll replace the electrical needs from scratch, all new woodwork, and new cushions will follow. Hopefully by the time this is all done, the weather will break and I can get her somewhere to have the rigging replaced. The mast and boom are in good shape but she needs all new rigging, standard and running alike. I'm going to take care of as much as I can on my own with any guidance I can get so I'll know how to fix it when I break it.
I've looked into taking courses with a bunch of different ASA schools and I'm pretty sure I've nailed down the one I'd like to take 101 with in the spring and follow up with 103 sometime later. I could probably test out of 101, but if I pick up 1 thing that I didn't know before the class it will have been worth the time and cost of the class.
That AMI should be solid to sail on some of the bigger lakes around here as it only needs 28" of water so I'm going to learn the differences of the bigger boat on inland waters. When I'm comfortable with her, I'm going to take her to the coast for some day sailing. I had a schedule that I was hoping to meet, but I think I just read some good advice about getting there being part of the enjoyment so I'll just plug along and do it when I'm ready.
My attitude about this and my reason for joining the forum is that I know enough to know that I don't know everything.
So any advice and help on any of my posts is very welcome.
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